


Party Boy

by warblerweisman



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, I had a sprint of inspiration, M/M, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warblerweisman/pseuds/warblerweisman
Summary: Archie was determined that for once, his best friend was going to enjoy his birthday.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Party Boy

Jughead Jones hated his birthday. He honestly doubted that there was anything that could ever make him actually like it. It was the few days out of the year that his parents would try to act like everything was peachy keen and try to hold off on the yelling for as long as they could. 

Unlike Christmas though, the arguing would eventually start. His birthday was the one day a year that something good would come out of all the arguing. It was the start of a Birthday tradition when he was 7. The first time that Gladys would raise her voice, his dad would call Mr. Andrews, who would come pick Jughead up, and take the boys to the drive in to see a movie. 

After that day, Jughead even started to look forward to it. It became a yearly tradition. When he turned 13, Archie had convinced his dad that the two of them were mature teenage boys, who could sit in the back of the truck by themselves to watch Freddy vs. Jason. What the boys leave out when they reminisce about this story now is the fact that they slept with Archie’s bedroom light on that night. 

Eventually, the nights spent in the back of Fred’s truck at the drive in watching some Disney movie, or horror turned into nights that turned into mornings spent at the Bijou watching marathons of low budget science fiction movies. 

To Jughead, this was the perfect way to spend his birthday. It was just him, and his favorite person in the world. It was him, and someone that if he got scared by something in the horror movie, he knew Archie would wrap a protective arm around him, to make sure that he felt safe. It was acting like he was annoyed whenever Archie would sing happy birthday in the middle of Pop’s before they left for the movie, no matter how much he enjoyed the fact that his best friend cared enough to do it every year. 

To Archie, these comfortable nights meant getting to be close to the person who meant the most to him. It meant that he had to swallow down the feeling of butterflies in his stomach every time their hands met in the popcorn bucket. It meant sticking a candle in the top of a burger at Pop’s before they headed to the movies, so he still had a chance to sing happy birthday without getting shushed. 

The one time Archie tried to change the plan led to chaos. He decided to surprise his best friend with a party. It was like he didn’t understand how much all those nights spent watching movies meant to Jughead. 

It was why Jughead spent the entire night with his back against the wall, taking small sips of the same drink, watching Archie have the time of his life, playing beer pong with the rest of the bulldogs in the Andrews living room. He figured that if he was going to be standing here alone anyway, he may as well just head home. 

Archie saw the familiar beanie in the crowd, only to see his best friend making his way towards the door. He quickly excused himself from the game, only to catch Jughead half the way out the door. “Jug, dude where are you headed? We haven’t even gotten to cut the fancy cake Ronnie got. C’mon dude. It’s chocolate cake. I know you love chocolate cake.” He told him. 

By then, Jughead was already standing in the yard. “Oh, so you know that I like that kind of cake, but you don’t know enough to know that I would absolutely hate every fucking second of this?” He questioned. 

Archie was confused. He’d thought that this would be fun for all of them. “I thought you might actually want to , y’know celebrate for once, and enjoy your birthday with some friends.”

Jughead bit his lip, and bent down to tie his boot. “Arch, spending the day with you was all the friend I ever needed or wanted on my birthday.” He pointed out, as he turned on his heel to keep walking. 

Archie simply stood there, as his best friend seemed to walk into the darkness. “Jug, where are you headed?” He called out. 

“Maybe to The Bijou to catch the last few zombie movies. Or probably just home. Why do you care, Arch? Just head back in with your buddies.” Jughead answered, as he simply kept walking.

Archie stood there till his best friend was out of sight. It broke his heart when Jughead questioned if he actually even cared. He knew he would do whatever it took to erase that look of hurt from Jughead’s face. Knowing that his best friend was upset always hurt Archie, but it made it all the worse knowing he was the one that caused it. 

He headed back in and grabbed another beer. He was starting to formulate a plan for this. He grabbed a pen and paper, writing down the list of as many movies as possible that he could remember the two of them going to see over the years. He had to get Jughead’s birthday right. He wanted to make it up to the person who meant more to him than anyone in the world. 

The next morning, after he cleaned up everything from the party, Archie assembled all the people he knew would be able to tell him anything he needed to know about Jughead. That was why he stood in front of Betty, Veronica, Kevin, and Joaquin in his living room. 

Joaquin was the main one who had any idea. “Told you that party was a stupid idea Red.” He muttered, keeping an almost protective arm around Kevin’s shoulders. 

Veronica nodded in agreement. “I’m with whatever his name is. Jughead seems to only like the 5 of us, and he only really likes spending tons of time with you, Archikins. I don’t know why you thought he would want a party with half the school.”

Archie bit his lip. “Because Jughead doesn’t think he deserves to be celebrated, when he absolutely does.” He admitted, running his hand through his hair. “Just wish Jug could see himself the way I see him.”

Kevin took a small sip of his water, before deciding to say what everyone in the room was thinking. “Oh my god, he’s in love with Jughead.” 

Archie glanced up to stare daggers at him. “I don’t know if I would put it like that.”

Veronica smirked, getting an idea to help Archie in the best way that she could. “Alright. How would you put how you feel about Jughead?” She questioned, with a knowing smile. 

Archie debated between sitting down or remaining standing. He chose not to. If he was standing, he could at least pace around. The redhead always thought that his brain seemed to work better when he could pace. “He’s the first one that I showed one of my songs to that didn’t laugh at it. He inspires me. Those nights we spend at the movies every year for his birthday are some of my favorites of the year. I was the first person he told when he got hired at the Drive-In, and I decided that day that I would do anything I could to keep that smile on his face, and light in his eyes.” 

“And now he’s ignoring you, because you did something stupid and upset him.” Joaquin pointed out. He could see where Veronica was trying to lead the boy’s thinking. He figured he could help Archie reach the conclusion that the rest of them had already come to. 

Archie simply nodded in agreement and kept going with his tangent. “Exactly, and knowing that I’m the one who upset him made me feel like shit.” He admitted. “I started to come up with an idea to make it up to him, but it is going to require the help of everyone else here.” 

Betty nodded. “Of course, Arch. Anything to help you make it up to the love of your life.” She teased, earning a chuckle from the others. 

Archie rolled his eyes. “First of all, he’s not the love of my life.” He insisted, before he started giving everyone their tasks for his thought out plan. “Alright, Ronnie you’re gonna be in charge of tracking down the movies from this list.” He told her, as he handed her the piece of paper. 

Veronica glanced at the list of movies Archie handed her. “Archikins, I know you want this makeup party, boy’s night...thing that you’re planning to be perfect, but are you sure that half of these are actually real movies?”

Archie simply nodded, before handing another list to Betty. “B, I know that you know him just as well as I do. So you’re in charge of snacks.” 

Betty nodded, and folded the piece of paper, so she could stick it in her pocket. She knew the one thing that Jughead loved more than Archie was food. “Can do, Arch.” She assured him. 

Archie smiled, as he finally seemed to feel a bit more confident in his plan. “Alright, great. Kev, you’re gonna help me clean up the garage to get it ready to build a blanket fort.” He told him with a grin. 

That just left Joaquin on the couch. “What about me, Red? Want me to help you and Preppy clean up the garage?” He offered. 

Archie shook his head. “Joaquin, you have the most important job of all this. Tomorrow morning, you have to convince Jughead to skip school and come to my place.” He told him with a smile. 

Once all of the tasks were assigned, Archie and Kevin headed out to the garage to start cleaning it up a bit. 

Kevin was putting a box away on a shelf when he decided to ask, “So why are we cleaning up for you to build a fort exactly?” He questioned. 

Archie couldn’t help his grin as he even thought about the old memory. “Well, the first time we did it, we were in the living room, not out here. It was Jug’s 10th birthday. Like always, my dad was gonna take us to the drive-in. But since it was raining that night, my mom let us build a fort in the living room, and we watched Toy Story.” He admitted with a smile. 

Kevin couldn’t help his smile. “That’s honestly adorable, Arch.” He admitted. 

Archie didn’t think his smile could get any wider. “Didn’t even tell you the best part. That was the night he showed me the first story he ever wrote.”

Kevin was honestly surprised by that. “Oh? And What was the story about?” He asked with a smile. 

Archie knew he would never forget that story. He wanted to remember it, because as far as he was concerned, the life Jughead had described, was perfect. The two of them got their happy ending. They lived together, and had two dogs. He wanted that life to be his life. “He wrote about the two of us getting our happily ever after together.”

Kevin nodded, as he finished sweeping the garage. “Okay, and are you sure that you aren’t in love with him, Arch?” He asked. He meant it as a genuine question. He could see the two of them being happy together. 

Archie simply rolled his eyes at the question. “You can head home, Kev. I can take it from here.” He insisted. He waited till Kevin was gone to allow himself to think out loud. “Shit, maybe I am in love with him.” He whispered. 

A few hours later, Betty was bringing the bags of snacks into the garage. “Alright, Arch, I'll put the ice cream in the freezer.” She told him. 

Archie simply gave her a nod. He was making sure the heater in the garage still worked. He wanted tomorrow to be perfect. It had to be, if he truly wanted to make it up to Jughead. He was glad that he’d given Betty the task of snacks. He knew that the blonde would know just what Jughead would want. She had been sure to get all of his favorites.

Betty knew she was helping Archie do something special for the love of his life, even if Archie hadn’t realized it yet. “I never thought I would be buying that many bags of chips at once.” She joked. 

“You and I both know that Jughead can sit there and eat an entire bag of chips by himself while he’s watching a movie. He loves to snack.” Archie pointed out.

Betty nodded in agreement. “The only thing that boy loves more than you, is food.” She teased. 

That was what it took for Archie to finally look up from what he was doing. “I...you think he loves me?” He asked softly. 

Betty nodded. “Are you kidding? He’s crazy about you, Archie.” She told him. “Why do you think he was so upset about last night? It was because he was looking forward to spending the night, just the two of you, watching movies.” She told him.

Archie nodded. “Now you see why I have to make it up to him, Betty. I think I love him, and you know he loves me.” He pointed out. “I gotta make it up to him so he doesn’t hate me.”

Betty nodded, as she made her way out of the Andrews garage. “Whatever you say, Arch…”

Veronica returned an hour or so later, with the bag of DVDs. She handed the bag to him with a slight smile. “Managed to find all of them.”

Archie couldn’t help his grin, as he started to put the DVDs on the shelf he’d cleared off in the garage. “Even Ghost Shark?”

Veronica couldn’t help her small chuckle. “Yes, even your stupid shark movie.”

The redhead immediately came to the defense of the film. “Me and Jug love to watch all these stupid science fiction movies.” He admitted with a smile. 

Veronica rolled her eyes. “I swear, just looking at all the movies on the list you gave me, I think you’d do anything for that boy.” She teased. 

Archie simply nodded. “Yeah. I would. No question.”

She simply nodded. “And you are 100% sure you aren’t in love with him?” She questioned. 

Archie figured he would at least be honest. “Honestly at this point, I’m only like 12% sure I’m not. And 95% sure that I am.” He admitted. “I just...He’s the light in my life, Ronnie. I hate knowing that I was the one who upset him.”

Veronica made a joke, as she made her way out. “You are an absolute sap Archikins.” She told him. 

The next morning, Jughead got woken up before his alarm, by a pounding on the trailer door. He knew that was odd. His dad was usually already at work. He figured that he must have forgotten something, so he went to answer it, still dressed in his pajamas.

Joaquin was standing there, already dressed. “Grab your laptop and come with me, Jones. We got somewhere to be.”

Jughead was at least a little bit confused. “Can I at least go put on actual pants?”

Joaquin shook his head. “You can get your laptop and your beanie, but we don’t have all day. We got somewhere to be.”

His words did nothing to calm Jughead’s nerves, but he complied. He headed back to his bedroom, to get his laptop, and his beanie. “Can I at least know where we’re going?” He asked, as he got in Joaquin’s car.

Joaquin smirked, as he got behind the wheel. “It’s a surprise, Jones. Just relax.” He assured him with a smile. 

Telling Jughead to relax seemed to have the opposite effect. It only got worse when Joaquin told him, “We gotta make a quick stop first.”

He breathed a sigh of relief when the car came to a stop at Pop’s. Joaquin told him to stay in the car while he headed in to pick up the food. Archie had written down their usual order for him to pick up the food on the way to the Andrews house. 

Jughead was tasked with holding the food while Joaquin drove. The milkshakes were firmly in the cupholders. Jughead could tell one of the bags was his usual order. It only made him even more confused. “Alright, who’s the other food for?” He asked until he saw that they were driving to the familiar neighborhood. “Why are we at the Andrews?” He questioned. It felt like his entire body went tense. 

Joaquin did just like the text he’d received that morning had told him to do. He parked outside the house, so Jughead would be able to look out the car window to see into the garage as soon as Archie opened the door.

Jughead could see inside, where Archie had set up the fort in the garage. The redhead was still in his pajamas, holding a chocolate cupcake that had a single candle in it. “Happy Birthday, Jug.” He called out with a smile.

Jughead got out of the car, carrying the bag of food, and his laptop. He couldn’t believe that Archie had done all of this for him. “My birthday was two days ago, Arch. You know that.”

Archie grabbed a lighter out of the garage, to light the candle on the cupcake. “Then Happy Monday, Jug.” He told him with a cheesy grin. 

Jughead smiled and blew out the candle. “Grab the milkshakes. I’ll get my laptop set up. What movie are we starting with?” He asked with a smile. 

“Toy Story, obviously,” Archie answered, as he followed him into the garage. 

There weren’t too many words exchanged between the two of them until the credits rolled on the third movie. Jughead had been eating some chips. By this point, he was cuddled against Archie’s side, as they watched a zombie movie. He finally glanced away from the screen, when he felt Archie’s hand in his hair. “Arch, why’d you do all this for me?” He asked softly. 

Archie looked down at him. He finally had the nerve to say what he had been thinking about since the day before. “Because I love you Jug.” He told him softly. 

Jughead had dreamed about hearing those words from his best friend for what felt like his entire life. “I love you too, Archie Andrews.” He told him with a smile. 

Archie leaned down to kiss him gently. That was all that was truly needed. It was a long time coming, but to the two of them, it was better late than never.


End file.
